The State Debate Championship has returned to Chesterton as the CHS debaters
successfully reclaimed the trophy that one year ago eluded them.

The sweepstakes results reflected a close battle that was not decided until
the final rounds were over. Twenty eight schools competed with over 200
debaters and the point totals were as follows: Chesterton 73; West Lafayette
(last year’s champions) 63; Munster 51. Ft. Wayne Northrup came in fourth
with 23 and Valparaiso fifth with 22. This is Chesterton’s 18th State
Championship, while West Lafayette has won it five times.

Among the highlights of the two day tournament, all four debate events had
three preliminary rounds that began Friday evening and Saturday morning.
Debaters had to “break” to the elimination rounds that began with octafinals,
or the top 16. This was single loss elimination.

In Public Forum debate Mike Hadley and Tyler Fabbri were unbeaten and were
the State Champions, defeating West Lafayette in the final round. Syed Shah
and Jordan Hoover and John Poracky and Nathan Erxleben made it to quarter
finals. Paige Martin and Anthony Zeese competed in prelims.

In Lincoln-Douglas debate Megan Adamczewski made it to semifinals; Ankur
Chawla to quarterfinals, while Tom Geairn and Arlan Brooks competed in
prelims.

In Policy debate Greg Gentry and Alex Steciuch made it to semifinals; Manhar
Grewal and Siva Muthusamy made it to quarterfinals; and Rachel Marvin and
Jessica Povlinski and Kailey Paglia and Chasity Mottinger made it to
octafinals.

In Congressional debate Kathleen O’Keefe placed fifth in the Super Senate
Finals; Aris Ringas placed eighth in the Super Senate Finals; Tristen Comegys
competed in the final round chamber; Erika Mihalek competed in semifinals;
and Aaron Allshouse made it to semifinals as a presiding officer.

The debate team was accompanied by coaches Chris Lowery, Scott Woodhouse, and
Jim Cavallo along with parents, team support, and graduates.

“This was a tremendous win by our debaters. All season long West Lafayette,
Munster, and Chesterton have been rotating sweepstakes’ wins. They are worthy
opponents and I am sure they will be back in the hunt next year. For now I
hope that our debaters enjoy their accomplishment. They really worked hard to
earn it,” said coach Jim Cavallo.